Above: Guitarist Marko Topchii, conductor JoAnn Falletta and the BPO Below: Violinist Atis Bankas
BUFFALO PHILHARMONIC ORCHESTRA
The Sunday July 20 performance by the Buffalo Philharmonic turns out to be the first ever symphonic concert on the Shaw Festival Stage. I have long wanted to make the trek to Buffalo to hear the BPO and after this performance I will certainly still be inclined to do so. We begin with the Barber of Seville Overture, which in the early stages, with JoAnn Falletta conducting, reveals a surprising lightness of being that verges on ethereal, a clarity of purpose overall, and a distinct balance of all sections. As expected, this Rossini favorite offers a charming sense of fun that, done lightly, is even more fun in not being obviously intended as such. Still, conductor and orchestra produce an underpinning of almost frenzied delicacy.
Next, a front row seat allows a detailed observation of guitarist Marko Topchii’s fingers at work. Yet with all the scales, with which composer Rodrigo shapes the musical contours of this famous work, one soon, at a dozen steps away, sinks into delighted awe at the soloist’s unshowy mastery of his instrument. Once again, the clarity of articulation in all the sections makes the composer’s intent seem more subtly deliberate in effect than lush. Falletta’s conception seems intended to have the listener realize the concerto’s emotional underpinnings through its musical development, all without being told what to feel through blatantly used orchestral devices. We are made to be freshly involved in this concerto we’ve heard often.
Thus, we pay attention to what the music has to offer, both intellectually and emotionally. Thus, also, we as listeners are gradually worked over by the mutually supportive elements at play here before us. One feels an implicit sense of anticipation in the music and, at the same time, an emotional undercurrent, as if the past is now giving voice to its unfulfilled self in the present. That is indeed an engaging effect. Falletta guides Rodrigo’s delicate musical threads with insightful deliberation and guitarist Topchii, with unflinching technique, gives the solo part for guitar an assured and almost conversational quality.
Topchii returns for an encore and, born in Kiev, offers the Great Gate of Kiev from Mussorgsky’s Pictures at an Exhibition in which the guitarist’s many variations comprehensively and brilliantly explore the guitar’s potential in tone and texture. At one point, he offers an impressive simulation of a balalaika orchestra, but seemingly played by feathers. When Topchii bows to the audience, I shout Хорошо, to which this much-awarded guitarist partially, and almost shyly, smiles.
After the intermission, with solo violinist Atis Bankas in two selections by Tchaikovsky, conductor Falletta establishes a discreet but firmly present delicacy in shaping orchestral colours. Meanwhile, violinist Bankas makes ripe and rich linear statements in waves of emotion and one realizes how assured he is in developing such meaty and assertive musical offerings. One of Falletta’s skills, again, is her precise placement of orchestral values, without imposing them upon us. The listener is keenly aware of each work’s inner workings, as a result, and thoroughly engaged.
In Mozart’s Prague Symphony, Falletta stresses both inner humour and inner lyricism without pointing directly at either. We realize gradually this effect. At times one senses an orchestral suspension above a vortex of some kind, all the while sensing too a poised restraint. If this be a classical statement, within prescribed musical boundaries, such restraint nonetheless exudes anticipation with a twinkle at its core. Falletta may at times seem to prefer a clarity of musical purpose at hand over horizontal musical thrust, but then she also finds what seems like an awakening chirping in the woodwinds, for example, or what seems a bombastic indignation in the tutti passages.
In sum, Falletta’s precisely conceived musical intentions, and the BPO’s meticulous responsiveness, along with two technically impressive and delightfully imaginative soloists, all make for a memorable beginning to orchestral concerts at the Shaw Festival. Need we say “Encore?”
THE GREAT DEBATE: FAMOUS OR FORGOTTEN
The Great Debate is hosted by former Shaw Festival Artistic Director Christopher Newton. Four musical experts constitute a panel with this question in mind: What of today’s classical music will people be listening to in a hundred years? William Littler selects Rachmaninoff because “a good tune is important” and the composer created his music “not with head but with heart”. Rick Phillips adds that “piano music will be the reason that Rachmaninoff will survive.” Littler for his second choice opts for Korngold who “had a ballet mounted at age eleven at the Vienna State Opera.” Korngold influentially created a symphonic style of film music that “speaks directly to the heart.” Tom Allen adds that Korngold went to Hollywood as a “score doctor” and it’s agreed by all that “we have to move past prejudice against Hollywood music.”
Peter Hall notes that “rap is popular because it is rhythmic” and, arguably, “we wouldn’t have rap if we didn’t have Igor Stravinsky.” Rick Phillips states that “polytonality and harmony are what make Stravinsky influential” and Littler adds that only a handful of Stravinsky’s works are heard anymore. Peter Hall then says that “those who write for the stage know how to reach an audience” and his next choice is Leonard Bernstein. Admittedly, some of Bernstein, like the Chichester Psalms, is “unlistenable,” but West Side Story will certainly endure because we all have an immigrant background. Littler adds that not much other than West Side Story by Bernstein is being played nowadays.
Rick Phillips next chooses Prokofiev for his innovation, energy and lyricism and then Dimitri Shostakovich because most of his music is “unbelievably good,” although he did write bad stuff like the Oratorio on Reforestation. Littler adds that Shostakovich is played more in the West than in Russia these days. Tom Allen’s selection is Benjamin Britten and he notes that the gay composer’s opera Peter Grimes is full of beauty and terror. To this Rick Philipps adds that “Britten wrote a wide range of music and he was one of the most clever of 20th century composers.”
Rick Phillips also notes that Britten intended Grimes to be a poet and hated the anger in Jon Vickers’ interpretation of Grimes. Publicly, however, Britten was more discrete when asked about Vickers and responded “I’m sure he followed the score, so he was fine.” Allen ends with Bela Bartok and notes the composer’s background in field recordings of folk music, ergo his use of folk music in classical works. He notes too that Bartok wrote music to teach children.
No one mentions that all these composers have been dead at least twenty-five years (Bernstein) up to seventy-two years (Rachmaninoff) nor that we have a decent number of composers alive and composing or recently departed who too might be given repeated listens in 100 years. Meanwhile, I find myself looking eagerly ahead to the Borromeo String Quartet doing Bartok: The Complete String Quartets on August 6 at Toronto Summer Music. You don’t get that opportunity very often, all in one night, and I’ll be there.
NOTES ON A VEGAN’S WEEKEND AT THE SHAW FESTIVAL
Stayed again at the King George III Inn. For tormented souls who rise very early, what better option than to begin writing for the day on the second floor balcony overlooking the marina with sun rising over the Niagara River and gradually intensifying in one’s eyes, at which point one moves? This is a different world than one often gets with all its fluffy pillows and floral patterns up toward and beyond Queen Street. Or in Stratford which can be even worse in its studied quaintness. I have sat on the balcony here and imagined Walter Johnson or Christy Mathewson throwing a fastball across the Niagara to the American side, I don’t know why.
Breakfast again at the Tiara Room one block up the street at Queen’s Landing, a room which promises and delivers a large, sunlight-filled space and a great view. I like a quiet corner here where I can write before and after and sometimes during my oatmeal, juice and endless coffee. The music on the speaker is 50s and 60s Sinatra which I and the waiter appreciate. It turns out that he prefers lighter plays and not the more “morose” ones that are sometimes produced with all the yelling and fighting. He wants to be “entertained.” I overhear a couple from the USA who have just spent a week at Stratford and now one at Shaw, and they say “we are so lucky.”
The NOTL Tourism Office is located in the same building as the Court House Theatre. I ask for leads on a vegan meal and the lady says “Zees Grill.” “Any others?” I ask. “Zees Grill,” she says. This is not accurate, since on several occasions we have enjoyed Ginger Restaurant with its two exquisite vegan options, one including my beloved staple tofu, plus helpful service and warm ambiance. For lunch I’ve been having my eggplant, roasted pepper and avocado sandwich (sans cheese) and gazpacho at Epicurean for years, usually on the shaded and very pleasant back patio. You can order ahead a vegan supper here and once I had mine while chatting with actor Bernard Behrens at the next table.
Fan’s Court which used to provide a number of vegan dishes, some with tofu, is long departed from NOTL. A soup and sandwich eatery, one that served vegan chili and vegan salads, lasted maybe two or three years near the Courthouse. A restaurant near the Royal George where the past two years I ate stuffed peppers or pizza, both vegan, is now closed or demolished, although I did try Bistro 66 next door for a salad one night. My discovery, however, was Little Red Rooster Restaurant on Mary Street near Hwy 55 which serves a huge “Veggie Stir-Fry” with a mound of rice in the middle.
The owner of Little Red Rooster is delightfully engaging and soon, although she is Asian, she confessed to inability with chopsticks. Each day she also provides a list of vegan pie offerings, with a crisp tasty crust, and I enjoyed apple the first time and strawberry-rhubarb the second. “Do you go to plays at the festival?” I wondered, to which she responded that she didn’t have to since many of the Festival’s actors eat at her restaurant. Later I enjoyed my second discovery, Il Gelato di Carlotta, at 59 Queen, which offers about six vegan gelato options each day. I love to sit outside on a bench with my surprisingly filling gelato and enjoy the warm and slightly haunted atmosphere of Queen Street on a warm summer’s night. The tourists are elsewhere, you can hear single footsteps, and the air feels ghostly, misty.